Shear Vibes

I read something about Dolly Parton today that stopped me in my tracks—not just as a fan, but as a hairstylist.

It’s being reported that in her final days, one of the very few people Dolly allowed close to her was Cheryl Riddle, her longtime hair and makeup artist.

And I don’t think everyone outside of this industry will understand just how profound that is.

We spend our careers standing behind a chair, but somewhere along the way, for some people, we become so much more than the person who does their hair.

We see people before the wedding. Before the funeral. After the divorce. During the diagnosis. When they’re celebrating. When they’re falling apart. When they’re becoming someone new and when they barely recognize themselves.

We know the stories that never leave the chair. We know how they like their hair parted, the color they swear they’ll never change, the things they’re insecure about, and exactly what makes them feel like themselves when they look in the mirror.

And sometimes we’re trusted with parts of a person’s life that very few people ever get to see.

So the thought of a woman as iconic as Dolly Parton, someone whose hair, makeup and image became recognizable around the entire world, wanting the person who had helped care for that image for decades close to her at the very end…there’s something incredibly beautiful about that.

Because at that point it wasn’t really about hair or makeup anymore.

It was about trust.

That’s the part of the beauty industry people don’t always see.

We may be “just hairstylists” to the world.

But to some of the people who sit in our chairs, we’re given the privilege of being there for pieces of their lives—from some of their very best days, all the way to their very last.

And there is something sacred about being trusted like that.

Curls for the girls! CURL CULT eats everytime!

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